430 



NATURE 



[December 2, 1920 



common ground that close association became 

 essential. An institute such as Rothamsted, with 

 excellent laboratories and library, standing in its 

 own grounds of 300 acres, right out in the 

 country, with well-kept historic field plots and a 

 staff of assistants highly trained in field work, has 

 obvious advantages over a university department 

 situate in a town remote from agricultural practice 

 and interests, and one is not surprised to find that 

 it has grown and is still growing". The larger in- 

 stitutes now are : Rothamsted, for soil, plant 

 nutrition, plant pathology (including entomology, 

 helminthology, and mycology) ; the Imperial 

 College, South Kensington, for plant physiology ; 

 Cambridge, for plant breeding and animal nutri- 

 tion; Long Ashton and East Mailing, for fruit; 

 Reading, for dairy ; Aberdeen, for animal nutri- 

 tion ; and Oxford, for agricultural economics. 



Success or failure, however, depends on the men 

 working the scheme, and shortly after the 

 Armistice the Ministry of Agriculture put into 

 operation a research service scheme, which has 

 been found satisfactory in its essential features, 

 and has enabled the leading research in- 

 stitutions to attract a body of highly competent 

 workers and to retain those who wish to stay. 

 Automatic increments of salary are made annually, 

 subject to proved service, up to a Certain 

 maximum, and there is the possibility of 

 promotion to a higher grade. As the scheme 

 stands at present, a young man or woman taken 

 on the staff begins with a salary which, including 

 bonus, amounts to 450/. per annum, and he or 

 she can rise continuously to a salary which, with 

 bonus, amounts to \o\ol. per annum. It does not 

 follow that all will rise to this level; there are 

 stopping places at sioZ. and 780Z. respectively, 

 beyond which further progress may be impossible 

 for a given individual. In addition, there is 

 a superannuation scheme, to which the institute 

 makes an annual contribution equal to 10 per cent, 

 of the salary There are also still higher posts 

 as directors, etc. 



In the commencing or third grade the sub- 

 stantive salary is 300?. per annum, with bonus of 

 150Z., total 450Z., rising by annual increments of 

 20I. to 360/. plus \zpl. — i.e. 5ioZ. per annum. 

 Should it appear that the holder is unsuited for 

 the higher posts, the institute may terminate the 

 appointment after three years. On the other 

 hand, if paucity of posts or other reasons render 

 promotion improbable, the institute may make the 

 appointment permanent, provided sufficiently good 

 work has been done to justify this course. Prob- 

 NO. 2666, VOL. 106] 



ably, in most institutes — certainly in the larger 

 ones — there are excellent workers in the third 

 grade for whom promotion into the second grade 

 is only a remote contingency. 



The middle- or second-grade appointments are 

 limited in number — usually to half of those in the 

 commencing grade — and the possibility of pro- 

 motion thereto depends on the accident whether 

 or not a post happens to fall vacant. Such cases 

 inevitably arise under any scheme. The salary 

 with bonus begins at 550Z., and rises by incre- 

 ments of 23Z. to 780Z. The highest or first-grade 

 posts are also limited in number, being- generally 

 the same as the second grade ; the commencing 

 salary with bonus is 780^., rising by eight annual 

 increments to loiol. The terms of appointment 

 to these two grades are the same as those of a 

 permanent reader at a university, so there is ample 

 security of tenure. Above these come the directors, 

 posts which, however, vary according to the 

 institute. 



Although the scheme is put forward, fin- 

 anced, and imposed on the research institutes 

 by the Ministry of Agriculture, the holders 

 of the posts are neither Civil Servants nor 

 officers of the Ministry. The appointments 

 to all these posts are made by the governing bodies 

 of the institutes, which retain all rights of such 

 bodies. In case of a grievance, any holder of a 

 post has, however, the right of appeal through the 

 governing body to the Ministry. 



Promotion to a vacancy in a higher grade is 

 possible only on the recommendation of the 

 governing body and with the approval of the 

 Ministry. There is a provision that all vacancies 

 in higher grades must be notified to all likely 

 candidates in the lower grades at all research in- 

 stitutes, but the appointment rests with the 

 governing bodies, which, in the interest of their 

 institutes, will presumably select the best candi- 

 date, whether in the service or out of it. As the 

 scheme was originally put forward, there was a 

 seniority clause giving preference to men or 

 women already in the service; but this met with 

 so much opposition from those responsible for the 

 efficient conduct of the institutes that it was 

 abandoned. A research institute is no place for 

 promotion by seniority. Such promotions would 

 stultify the whole purpose of research ; they would 

 stifle initiative, blot out all possibility of bringing 

 in new ideas, lead to stereotyped dogmas, and do 

 infinite harm to the cause of progress. At all 

 costs, a research institute must choose the best 

 possible man or woman, regardless of other con- 



